Devils Having Trouble Adjusting To Timo Time
The topic du jour surrounding the Devils and their relatively slow start (1-1-1 after three home games) is: What’s up with Timo Meier?
New Jersey’s power forward, who signed an 8-year, $70.4 million contract extension this summer after coming over in a February trade from San Jose, has yet to register a point and was benched for all but 46 seconds of Monday’s third period as the Devils’ comeback from four goals down to Florida fell a tally short.
The official justification, per Devils Head Coach Lindy Ruff, was that Meier committed back-to-back tripping penalties in the latter half of the second period. To make him seem even-handed, Ruff also tethered fourth-line forward Curtis Lazar and defenseman John Marino to the pine during the third period for undisclosed reasons.
However, it should be noted that the Panthers failed to convert on either power play with Meier in the box. And it’s not like Ruff would have sat a player who had his game going at a high level when his team was making a serious push.
And therein lies the real problem. While it’s fair to point out that Meier didn’t score his first of his cumulative 40 goals last season until Game 10, this just feels different. Yes, he’s had a few slow starts before, but he also once scored nine goals in 12 October games. No, something just isn’t right with the fit.
At the tail end of last season, the excuse was that he needed time to adjust to a new system on one of the league’s better teams after playing all year with the lowly Sharks. While he wasn’t the nearly point-per-game player he had been, nine goals in 21 games is not too shabby. His lines were generating chances through the playoffs, though he was personally snakebit by the higher-level goaltending he faced in the two series before the Devils were eliminated by Carolina. He is not a 5.4% shooter, at least not since his rookie season in 2016-17.
Despite the measly two-goal production, Meier’s postseason showed off all that he can bring to the table. At 6-foot 1 and 220 pounds, he’s a bull with the puck on his stick and he led the team by a wide margin with 37 hits.
He played fine this preseason, not that it matters, with a goal and four assists, two of them by forcing turnovers though a heavy forecheck before feeding Alexander Holtz in front. Meier seemed primed to truly break out for a team that screamed Stanley Cup contender.
Which is why it was so strange that Meier opened the season with such a whimper. He has been the Devils’ worst player in terms of NaturalStatTrick.com’s five-on-five Corsi and expected goals for percentage metrics (very small sample size disclaimer) while playing a top-six role and he hasn’t been on the ice for any of the team’s five power play goals this season. On top of that, New Jersey isn’t even getting bangs for their big bucks, with Meier credited with just four hits all season. About the only positive thing you could say about his first three games was that the Devils have played to a 0-0 score during his shifts on the ice at all strengths.
Virtually all that ice time has come on the flank of captain Nico Hischier, a fellow Swiss native on a team that also counts countrymen defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler and goalie Akira Schmid. If ever an NHL place Meier could feel at home, it’s New Jersey.
So, what’s the problem? The Devils are paying Meier a higher AAV than any other forward, including superstar Jack Hughes, yet his play has been more comparable to that of Lazar’s. From my vantage, Meier hasn’t been carrying the puck enough. Some of that is because Hischier, a Selke Trophy contender for the league’s top defensive forward, typically draws the toughest assignments. Though his line hasn’t been scored against, it has often been pinned in its own zone for extended periods. By the time the puck is cleared to safety, the shift is pretty much over.
Will swapping sets of wingers with the Hughes line, which Ruff did at Tuesday’s practice in advance of Friday’s contest on Long Island, free up Meier? That depends, because the brilliant Hughes has earned the right to be both the main play driver and finisher on any trio, which would put Meier back in the more limited role of puck retriever.
On power plays, feeding Meier needs to be a higher priority. He has one shot attempt, which was blocked before it reached the net, in 7:27 of power play time, per NST. His unit to start the season also included Holtz and defenseman Dougie Hamilton, both of whom have cannons, so swapping Meier to the one quarterbacked by rookie Luke Hughes might help unlock him and his plus sniping ability more.
For the moment, putting Meier on the Hughes line would theoretically get Meier’s minutes up—even before the benching, he was averaging about 17 minutes per game, which is two-to-three minutes below what he saw in San Jose. However, if this doesn’t work, the next steps could be humbling for Meier and the Devils. Because ice time in this league isn’t a right; it has to be earned, no matter the pay level. It’s up to both sides to figure this out.
Photo by: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports